Charlie
by djinni14
Summary: This was a prompt from mysafewordisapples. Castle is murdered and comes back as a dog, but has 2 weeks to help Kate find his murderer. If he does he comes back as a human. If not he remains a dog. Tell me what you think. This is one big chapter! So yes, there is Character Death. Just how permanent, you get to read to find out. - COMPLETE


**Charlie**

This was a prompt from Mysafewordisapples, so I can give credit where credit is due. However like it or not as written, that is all my fault. So blame me or praise me, just don't shoot me.

When Castle is murdered he comes back as a dog. He has two weeks to help Beckett find his murderer. If he does he returns as a human, if not he remains a dog. (Married, Caskett, Dog Castle can talk but humans only hear barking or other dog sounds.)

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"Ok, we do this by the book. We clear the building and secure our suspect. Just remember Dawkins has three assault charges, one of which involves a weapon so he is to be considered armed and dangerous.

Castle, this time when I tell you to wait out here, you wait out here. … Got it!" Rick had always been lucky in the past, even that one time when he was wearing his vest and took the round to his chest. Just one lousy inch higher and he would be dead.

Kate had actually insisted on charges being filed against the idiot. Kate had been even more pissed when all he got was some hours of community services. He had almost gotten Rick killed and all he got was a few hours of picking up trash. Kate was all set to go ballistic till Rick came in and calmed her down.

"CASTLE! … Are you listening to me?" Kate stared at him.

"Yeah, yeah, don't go into the building with the wacko with a gun inside." Rick tells her.

"Right, let's go." Kate motions for Espo to open the door, quietly and Kate is the first one inside followed by Ryan and then Espo all with their weapons out.

Dawkins was just another low life enforcer, and while he likely didn't do the killing he was probably part of it and they already had two dead bodies that they could place him in the area of.

As best they could work out it was a group that was stealing cars and using them to transport drugs inside of. The owners didn't even know their cars, mini-vans or trucks had been stolen since they all had solid alibis that placed them out of town with friends or family at the time.

Taking Bracken down along with the death of Vulcan Simmons had left a vacuum that other people were only too happy to try and fill. Problem was they weren't nearly as smart as the other two, or maybe that was a good thing since they were being caught faster.

The additional problem was that with all these idiots fighting over all this new turf they were quicker to use weapons to make their point and warn others away.

In this case it was a rental store. Rent furniture, rent TV's, rent pictures to hang on your wall. Places like this were popular with people or companies that wanted to stage a house or some other place for a sale.

Most of the higher end condo's used companies that got their furniture from a warehouse like place that kept high end furniture and paintings. This place didn't have that high end, still they were used for people that only needed items for a couple of weeks.

The problem with this place is that there were countless items out on the sales floor for people to select. That also meant that there was countless places for someone to hide.

Kate went up the middle, while Ryan went left and Espo went right. It forced them to go slow and check behind each and every sofa, love seat, chair, bed and dresser.

Having cleared the front room that left the two doors leading somewhere else. One was a single door and the other was a double door, likely how they got this stuff in the front from the rear storage.

Espo covered the double doors while Ryan and Kate took the single door. Ryan carefully and slowly opened the door with Kate looking in first with her weapon out in front.

It was an office with a desk and a single chair and no other access. With no one hiding under the desk they both moved over to the double doors that Espo had been watching.

Ryan and Espo took one side while Kate took the other. Kate was trying to silently communicate with her team when there was a sound of a bing bong. The three of them had heard that sound when they had entered the front door.

It was likely an infrared beam attached to a device that signaled when someone came or left through the front door. The three of them turned to the front door to see Castle entering through one of the glass front doors.

"Damn it Castle." Kate curses softly. Of course her husband wouldn't listen, when did he ever listen?

It was also at this time that two shot gun blasts make large holes in the double door. Both are really close to Kate who is actually hit by debris from the door. Though it did no damage.

Kate took a quick look at Castle and didn't see him. At least the idiot had gotten down low from the shot gun blasts and was likely cowering behind a sofa or something.

Kate signaled and the three of them charged through the double doors and started yelling NYPD.

This was followed by a number of gun shots, none of which were shot gun blasts.

The back room was mostly industrial shelving that held larger items several of which were in boxes.

There turned out to be three men back here, one of which had made a run for it out a back door. However he missed the bar about mid height that would have opened the door, so he stopped and turned to fire a couple of rounds in their direction.

Ryan put two slugs in his chest and dropped him. While the other two continued to hide, when suddenly they both popped up and shot at Espo.

One round hit him in his vest, one round went in and out his left arm while a third went in and out his left leg. The other three shots all missed.

Kate's two shots in return fire went into one of them head and dropped him instantly. This got the other guy to throw his weapon at Kate and raise his arms.

While Ryan was cuffing him, Kate started walking for Espo when she heard another shot followed by the sound of the front door, meaning someone had just come in or out of the front door.

"Castle!" That got Kate up and charging out the double doors looking for the front door. However she saw nothing, inside or out.

Kate moved slowly for the front door forcing herself to look behind sofa's, loveseat's and everything else till she found someone lying on the floor.

"CASTLE!" Kate gave up looking at anything else and was down on the floor cradling Rick's head in her lap while she stroked his hair and watched him gurgle up blood out his mouth.

Rick's eyes were looking up at her and Kate could tell that he recognized her and actually opened his mouth to tell her something, but all that came out was a few bubbles and blood.

"Shhhh, Rick, you'll be fine, you'll be fine." Kate continued to stroke his hair and saw that the wound of where he had been shot in the throat and was bleeding out through his neck and mouth.

"BECKETT?" Ryan soon showed up and saw Castle's head in Beckett's lap as she stroked his hair and rocked back and forth asking him not to talk.

Kate was only vaguely aware of Ryan's voice calling for back-up and an ambulance with an officer down call sign.

Ryan simply stood there wanting nothing more than to shoot someone for this as he watched Castle die in Kate's arms as she cooed into his ears and rocked back and forth and stroked his hair.

Castle was long since dead by the time the ambulance showed up to take him away, leaving Kate sitting on the floor rocking back and forth still while crying and not seeing anyone or anything.

Ryan watched the guy they had caught being taken away by a pair of uniforms, smiling as he walked past Kate. This was too much for Ryan who attacked him from behind and wasted no time in punching him straight in the nose.

It forced the uniforms to get Ryan off of him while the guy smiled the entire time.

It was hours later and Ryan had been dressed down by Gates, Espo was in the hospital recovering from his gun shot wounds, while Kate was sitting lost and silent in Gate's office while no longer crying.

"Beckett! …. Detective Beckett." Gates had a first yelled at her and only talked normally after that.

Gates could tell that detective Beckett wasn't paying any attention and likely didn't even know where she was. "Take her to the hospital and get her checked out and then take her home." Gate's orders.

Kate didn't see anyone at the hospital and didn't hear their opinion of her condition, and didn't know how she made it back to the loft. Kate didn't hear Ryan telling her that Martha would be here soon and they were still working on finding Alexis.

Martha has made it to the loft from her apartment that she had moved into just a week ago. All Martha heard was what had happened to her son from Ryan and the sound of Katherine sobbing in the master bedroom.

Ryan was gone and Martha moved to the master bedroom and sat down on the bed and did for Kate what Kate had done for Rick, while crying her own tears.

A crying Alexis soon entered the master bedroom and ended up in Martha's arms as all three of them were on the bed crying.

Martha still had a few clothes here so she didn't need to leave for any reason. Martha was in the living room just sitting there waiting for the food delivery. Kate and Alexis were still in the master bedroom, still in the clothes they had come home in.

Home, was this place still home? The only ones still in it were Katherine and Alexis, her son had died before she did.

Martha had already gotten off the phone with Captain Gates who told her what she knew, most of it coming from detective Ryan. Martha had always been afraid that Richard would get killed following Katherine around at work, even if now it had become his job as well. Richard was the most happy when he was with Katherine, solving crimes, chasing down criminals. Only what he enjoyed doing had gotten him killed.

Martha heard the door and thought it was the food finally getting here so she didn't look first. "GINA? What are you doing here?"

Gina charged right in past Martha who left the door open. "It's all over the news that Richard had been killed. … I just knew that his following that bitch around was going to get him killed one day. Then he had to be stupid enough to marry her." Gina was on a roll.

"I think you need to leave Gina." Martha suggested.

"I'll leave after that bitch of a wife who got Richard killed signs the papers I brought." Gina stood her ground.

"You'll leave now Gina, Richard should never have been involved with you in the first place. Katherine is the only person who has ever made him happy." Martha informs her, however Gina holds her ground.

"Fine have it your way." And Martha heads for the living room while Gina just smiles. Gina knew Martha was no match for her.

However Gina sees Martha get no further than the living room and was on her cell phone. Martha was still on her cell phone when the food and two uniformed officers showed up.

Martha paid for the food. "This woman barged in uninvited and has refused to leave, remove her. Detective Kate Beckett lost her husband today and I want this woman removed." Martha tells the officers.

"You'll come with us mam." One of the uniforms moves over to collect Gina.

"Not until she signs these papers." Gina turned her back on the lot of them and knew just where the master bedroom was and started walking for it.

"Arrest her and get her out of here." Martha instructs the officers.

"Get your hands off me!" Gina instructs the officer that had taken a hold of her arm, and proceeds to wrench free of his hold, only to end up hitting him in the face with an elbow.

"Now the officer was no longer treating Gina nice as he roughly drew her arms behind her back and cuffed her, causing Gina to drop her papers.

"You're under arrest for illegal entry and resisting arrest." And grabs Gina by her arm and marches Gina to the front door and he and his partner drag her downstairs to their waiting car and booking.

Martha picked up Gina's papers and put them in Richard's crosscut paper shredder.

Katherine nor Alexis came out for dinner that night and Martha let them both be and didn't see either of them till morning. Which left her free to break down and cry alone in her old room.

Martha was in the kitchen when a showered Katherine came out of the bedroom dressed in different clothes. "Coffee darling?" Martha poured a cup and placed it on the counter.

"Thanks Martha." Kate takes it and sits down but looks vacant to Martha.

"Please tell me your not going into work today dear." Martha couldn't believe that she was leaving to go into work.

"I have to give my my version of what happened yesterday. I need to be interviewed and have my actions investigated." Kate tells her without any emotion in her voice.

"You mean they might fire you? How is that possible, you're not the one who shot him." Just when Martha couldn't think it could get any worse.

"I took an unarmed civilian to a site where a known criminal was likely staying who was to be considered armed and dangerous. … I got my husband killed Martha. I deserve to be fired." New tears started and Kate didn't know how that was possible. Her pillow was soaked when she woke up this morning.

"Katherine you did not get Richard killed. The person who shot him killed him and it's your job to find out who did it." Martha contradicts what Katherine thinks.

"I was lead Martha. He was my responsibility, he died while I was on duty and in charge. … He died in my arms Martha, I deserve to be fired. I shouldn't even be a police officer anymore. … Besides Gates is going to take me off this case and all the others till after the investigation is completed." Kate left her unfinished coffee behind and headed for the door and the end of her career. Something she didn't even want anymore anyway.

"You're wrong Katherine and you're the only one who is going to find out who killed Richard, just like you found out who killed your mother." Martha called after her and watched the front door slam closed.

"Find out who killed Richard dear, don't give up now. We all need closure dear, and your the only one who is going to get it for us." Martha told the empty space in front of her.

Kate went down to the lobby in the elevator on autopilot and never even thought about anything except getting to the precinct and ending her career. Kate flagged down a taxi since her cruiser had been left at the precinct since Ryan had brought her home.

Kate was just sitting down and started to reach for the door to close it and tell the diver the address for the precinct, when suddenly something big bounded into the cab with her after walking all over her legs, with Kate feeling all 75 pounds momentarily in her lap.

"WHAT THE!?" Kate left the door open and turned to look at who had gotten into her cab with her wondering if she could reach her weapon without drawing too much attention to that.

It was a dog and it was a big one too. It had a long muzzle and lots and lots of hair and it was just sitting there staring at her.

"Get out." Kate motioned with her arm for the dog to jump back out like it had jumped in. "This is my cab, now get out." Kate looked at him.

What Kate got back was to watch the dog pin it's ears back and lower it's head and look up at her with pleading eyes. "Don't give me that look, you probably belong to someone else, now get out." Kate motions again.

"Where to lady, with or without the dog." The driver tells her, since he had a fare and wanted to finish it so he could look for the next one.

Kate looked at the driver and then back to the dog. Kate watched the puppy eyes go away but the ears were still pinned back and then it lifted a paw and brushed it across Kate's leg twice.

"In or our lady?" The driver calls again.

"Fine you can come with me but your getting out and going home when we get there." Kate closes the door and gives the address for the precinct to the driver.

(Thank you Kate) "BARK!"

Kate watched the dog sit forward and watch where they went. He was even crowding Kate when he did that. Kate felt nothing but hair all along her left side and the dog just sat there panting lightly watching everything.

"Who do you belong to?" Kate asks and starts searching the dogs hair looking for a collar.

(I belong to you Kate) "Bark"

"Great, no collar and no tags. Just my luck. Maybe I can get animal control to pick you up and find out who you belong to." Kate talks to herself.

(NO KATE, I need you.) "Whine." Kate instantly finds the dog laying down with it's head in her lap and whimper.

"Oh don't give me that. You're not mine and I'm not stealing some else's dog, so cut it out." Kate tells him.

Kate sees the dog simply lift it's eyes up to look at her and then back down while whimpering softly.

"That's not going to work with me, so knock it off." Kate tells it. Only to see the dog look up at her and then back down, only to repeat that numerous times, just without the whimpering this time.

"We're here lady." The driver tells her getting Kate to pay him and open the door only to find the dog walk all over her legs and jump out first.

"That kinda hurts I'll have you know." Kate chastises the dog as she gets out of the cab and closes the door and feels the cab drive away instantly. Kate however did notice that the dog appeared to sulk yet again as it put it's head down and whimpered.

(I'm sorry Kate, but I can't let you leave me behind.) "Whimper."

"Now I need the number for animal control." And Kate pulls out her phone to look it up, only to watch the dog dart into the precinct as one of the uniforms comes out the door.

"HEY, come back here." Kate puts her phone away and chases the dog into the building.

"Damn it, where did you go?" Kate talks to herself. Once inside, Kate can't see the dog anywhere. "Hey, did you see a dog come in here?" Kate asks the first officer she can see.

All he did was point, that got Kate to head that way, only to find the dog up on it's hind feet scratching at the buttons for the elevator. "OH NO YOU DON"T!" Kate takes off jogging after the dog only to watch it walk into the elevator.

Kate makes it to the elevator just as it closes so she can see the dog inside. "DAMN IT! Just how did you get this far into the building anyway?" Kate knew there was a front desk that should stop everyone, even a dog on the loose.

"At least your trapped now." Kate smiled and pressed the button for up, expecting the door to open immediately. Just that when it didn't she looked up above the elevator and watched it going up.

"DAMN IT! How did you do that?" Kate watched it go up to the 4th floor and then come back down and open, EMPTY! "Of course." Kate hangs her head low and steps into the elevator and press the button for the 4th floor.

"Oh what do I care, it's my last day on the job anyway." Why am I worried about a dog running loose in the bullpen?

The elevator door opened and she didn't see the dog. Oh well, someone would find it and throw it out where it could go home or get picked up by animal control. Just what if it wasn't any of those?

"DAMN IT!" Kate knew she was going to have to find that damn dog.

Kate walked into the bullpen and found the dog sitting upright in Castle's chair next to her desk, with Ryan petting it as the dog kept it's eyes on her and she entered the bullpen.

"How are you doing Beckett? … I'm really sorry about Castle. He was like a brother and was definitely a cop even if he didn't have a badge or a gun." Ryan tells her while slowly petting the dog that only had eyes for her.

Kate landed in her chair with all the weight of the world on her shoulders. "I got my husband killed Kev. I knew he wasn't going to stay outside and yet I didn't stop him. … I got him killed." Kate didn't know a human body could have this many tears but they were flowing freely again.

Kate didn't see the dog jump down off the chair and place it's muzzle in her lap, but Ryan did.

It did however get Kate to sit up and wipe the tears off her face and look down at the dog that had it's head in her lap as it stood there. It did however get Kate to reach down and pet it's head.

When Kate started petting just one side at the base of the ear, the dog tilted it's head and whined.

(Apples, Kate, apples) "Whine."

That got Kate to yank her hand away from his head and look down at the dog. "Who's your new friend? I didn't know you and Castle had gotten a dog. … He's kinda cute." Ryan offered.

Ryan saw the dog take it's head out of Kate's lap and turn on him and growl.

(I am not cute Ryan. Puppies are cute. I'm a dog you, you, …. and a handsome one at that.) "Growl."

"Puppies are cute Ryan and it looks like you insulted him." Kate points out.

"How do you know it's a him? … And what's his name? Lassie?" Ryan chuckles.

(I am not Lassie. Even if most of the Lassie's in the show were male.) "Growl." And Rick goes back over to Kate and places his head in her lap again.

"I don't, it just feels like a him. And it's not mine, he, … he, … followed me to work." Kate squeezes her eyes close knowing what it sounded like.

"BECKETT, my office." Gates yelled out from her doorway.

Time to get this over with. Kate got up and walked into Gates's office, without noticing that the dog had followed her. "This precinct is no place for a dog detective." Gates notices the dog.

"It's not mine sir." Kate looks down and watches the dog walk up to her and literally sit on her foot.

"I'm sorry for your lose Beckett. Castle may have been unconventional but even I'm not blind to what he meant to you and what he brought to this precinct." Gates tells her.

"Thank you sir. I came in to write up my statement and tender my resignation. This job isn't the same without Castle." Kate tells her.

**(WHAT!?) **"Bark."

Rick pushes into Kate and uses his weight to force Kate to sit in one of the chairs and then Rick follows that up by placing his front body in her lap holding her down.

"He certainly seems to act like he's yours. … I'm sorry to see you go Beckett. You're the best detective I've ever encountered. I know your job with the AG didn't work out, but you're still one hell of a detective.

I'm placing you on extended leave with pay for two weeks. If you still want to leave at the end of 2 weeks, I'll process your request. Until then I suggest you go home and think it over. You can still do good things here." Gates tells her.

"Yes sir, thank you sir."Kate was too down to argue about it. "Down boy." Kate tells the dog so she can get up, and watches as the dog gets off of her and then sits next to her.

"Go write up your report Beckett and then go home." Gates tells her.

Kate was sitting at her desk writing, while she noticed that the dog was sitting right next to her looking up at her. Kate shook her head and went back to writing.

It took some time but Kate finally crossed every T and dotted every i and put her pen down and looked down at the dog still sitting at her side.

Kate looked up and across to Ryan. "I'm heading home Ryan. How's Espo?" Kate called across to him.

"He took one round in his arm that may have done some muscle damage and another in the leg that hit nothing but flesh. Both were thru and thru's. He'll be laid up for weeks." Ryan tells her.

Kate was still hurting, she had just written up watching her husband die in her arms along with every action she had done.

Kate got up and headed for the elevator and stepped inside when it showed up, noticing that the dog is standing right next to her.

Kate stepped out into the underground garage and walked for her cruiser. After unlocking it and opening the drivers side door, Kate felt herself pushed out of the way as the dog jumped in and sat down in the passenger seat.

"I'm not in the mood, now get out." Kate waves her arm.

(I'm going home with you Kate. I only have 2 weeks and you need to go back into the precinct.) "Bark, bark."

"I am not amused, but I'm also too tired to argue." Kate tells Rick and gets into the car and starts the car, only to watch the dog lay down and place it's head in her lap again.

Kate scratched his ears and didn't get a whimper this time and drove home and parked on the street not far from the loft. Kate got out of the car and felt herself get moved out of the way as the dog jumped out of the car and stood there looking up at her.

Kate walked for the elevator and pressed the button and felt the dog brush by her the second the door opened and then sat down in the elevator.

Kate sighed and looked down at the dog. How was she losing out to a dog? A dog for Christ's sake. "Fine I'll give you an elevator ride." Kate relents and presses the button for the third floor and watches the door close and they went up.

When the door opened, Kate fully expected the dog to jump out of the elevator allowing her to leave it behind on the third floor. Hopefully the owner would take it in or call animal control.

However the dog just sat there. (Nice try Kate)

Kate stepped out and held the door open. "Come on boy, you wanted to come home with me, well this is it." Only to watch the dog just sit there.

Kate took her hand away from holding the elevator door open and invited the dog to come out as she backed away. "Come on boy, let's go home." Kate coos at him.

Kate backs up just a little more and watches the dog stand and stretch up with its front paws and stands there with her mouth hanging open as the elevator door closes on her.

"I've been outmaneuvered by a dog." Kate hangs her head low and hears a loud bark, twice.

(Not even close Kate, not even close. And you better not feed me that cheap kibble crap either.) "Bark, bark."

Kate finally made it to her own front door, only to find the dog sitting there at her door. "You think you're pretty smart don't you?" Kate glared down at Rick.

(Smarter than you are Kate.) "Bark."

"Well if you think I'm, ..." Kate watches the door open and finds Martha on the other side, AND watches as the dog darts inside with Kate hot on his heels.

Kate watches as the dog runs directly upstairs and goes into Alcxis's room.

"Where did the dog come from Katherine?" Martha closes the door and locks it.

Kate ran a hand down her face. "He followed my into work and then followed me home." Kate hangs her head low, with no intention of telling Martha or anyone else that she had been outmaneuvered by a dog.

"A collie followed you into work and then followed you home? … Did it run the entire way?" Martha asks liking this topic since it looked like this event has taken her mind off of losing Richard.

"He, … he, …. I need a glass of wine." Kate was doomed and she knew it.

"Before lunch dear?" Martha questions even if it was only an hour away.

"YES!" Kate tells her and takes the open bottle out of the refrigerator and pours herself a glass and holds it up as an invitation to see if Martha wanted to join her.

"Thank you dear, I believe I will." It was lunch time somewhere, right?

Kate was putting lunch together when Alexis came running downstairs with a collie right next to her. "When did you get a dog? I always hoped dad would get us a dog, but I never asked. I thought he would shoot me down." Alexis came up to the breakfast bar.

(You didn't tell me you wanted a dog! I was willing to get you a pony.) "Bark, bark."

"I didn't get us a dog. He followed me to work and then followed me home." Kate corrects Alexis's thinking.

"Are we keeping him, he looks healthy and he's friendly." Alexis informs them since Rick had been licking Alexis since he got up and into her room and letting her pet him.

"We need to take him to the vet first to see if he has a chip and give him back to his owner." Kate tells her. Still replace her husband with a dog? Not really a fair trade.

"We can take care of him. Take him outside and down to the park. Maybe he can play with a tennis ball or maybe a Frisbee." Alexis was willing to help care for a dog.

"I'll leave it to you than to find a vet and get other dog supplies. Just make sure it's not that cheap grocery store crap that is full of fattening chemicals and no real meat." Kate tells her.

"YES! … You hear that Charlie, you can stay." Alexis started petting Rick enthusiastically.

"Charlie? You named him Charlie already?" Kate looks at Alexis like she was ready to shoot her.

"Well he needs a name and he doesn't have a collar, and Lassie is a girl name." Alexis answers back.

Kate sighed, since she knew that if you named it, it was staying. And watched as Charlie rubbed up against Alexis.

"Well I like it. You two could use someone to take care of. Give you some company, something to do." Martha adds her two cents.

Kate drove Charlie and Alexis to the vet and watched the vet look him over. They gave Charlie a booster shot along with a bordetella liquid up his nose. They didn't want to give him a rabies shot just yet and ultimately left with another appointment for 2 weeks from now.

They ran the scanner over him and didn't find a chip. "He's perfectly healthy and has obviously been well taken care of. Definitely not a street dog. I'd say he is roughly 2 years old and is certainly well behaved. … Aren't you boy." The vet ruffles Rick's fur as he just stands there for all of it.

"We've got our stool sample and he was kind enough to give us a urine sample. We should have the test results back by tomorrow." The vet tells them.

"We need food for him." Alexis asks while she scratches his ears, and Kate notices that he doesn't moan again like he did that first time.

"We carry two brands that you can select from. We have Natural Balance and Freshpet. The first comes in a variety of flavors, both dry and canned. The other has fewer variety of flavors and it comes in both dry and soft that you need to keep refrigerated." The vet offers.

Rick leaves Alexis and starts smelling some of the bags. (YUCK! What do they feed dogs these days?) "Whine."

Alexis opens the refrigerator to look at the tubes of Freshpet to read the list of ingredients. This however allowed Rick a chance to stick his big nose inside and sniff what was in the refrigerator. (HEY, this doesn't smell so bad, maybe it tastes good too.) "Bark."

In the end they left with three tubes or rolls of Freshpet® Select Chunky Chicken &amp; Turkey with Vegetables &amp; Brown Rice and three 5.5 pound bags of Freshpet® Select Grain Free Tender Chicken With Garden Vegetables.

Both to and from the vet Rick got willingly into the back seat of the cruiser, only to stand on his feet and stick his head over the front seat so he could watch where they were going and looked at everything. It allowed Alexis to smile and scratch his head.

Kate stopped outside of a dog store and waited in the car with Charlie while Alexis went inside to get a number of needed items. While Alexis was gone Rick stayed on his feet and watched her go into the store, and then he went forward as far as he could and rested his muzzle on Kate's shoulder and kept his mouth closed.

Kate lifted her hand to pet his muzzle. "Why me Charlie, what did I do?" Kate started crying as losing Rick was starting to kick in again.

(Because I love you Kate, and I always will.) "Whine."

Alexis came out pushing a cart that had a doggie bed, tennis balls, dog toys, two Frisbee's, a collar sized for a collie, and two leashes. One was a solid long leather leash and one was a 16-foot retractable one, along with number of very colorful poop bags and a container that could be attached to the retractable leash, 2 boxes of Advantage flea control, a bag of 7 roasted pig ears, two hair brushes, doggie shampoo and one item that Kate couldn't believe when they were unloading all this stuff back at the loft.

Poop Bag Shop Dog Waste Bags, 220-Count with Poop Bag Dispenser.

**Rubies Costume DC Heroes and Villains Collection Pet Costume - Classic Batman**

"A Batman costume? Seriously!?" Kate held it up to view it.

"They didn't have Green Lanern and it was either this of Superman, and Charlie looks more like a Batman kind of dog." Alexis defends her choice. "And it was one of the few they had in X-large."

(A Batman costume? When is Halloween? I am so there!) Rick spun in place as Kate held it up "Bark, bark."

"Charlie seems to approve." Alexis points out.

"What are the chances that we end up with a dog that likes Batman?" Kate shakes her head.

"Maybe he likes a tennis ball." Alexis offers and digs into one of her bags and pulls out a bright shiny yellowish green fuzzy ball. "You want the ball Charlie? You want the ball?" After Alexis waves it in front of Rick's face and watches his eyes follow the ball, she throws it towards the study.

Rick takes off after the ball and has it in his mouth and is pleased with himself, and stops dead in his tracks after he turns around.

(MY GOD, what am I doing? … I'm chasing after a stupid, soon to be slimy tennis ball. … Are all dogs hard wired to chase tennis balls? … This is so not cool.) "Whimper, whimper." Softly.

"Bring the ball Charlie, come on, bring the ball." Alexis calls after him.

(FINE! I'll bring you the ball.) "Whimper." Rick trots back to Alexis and offers her the ball, except Rick doesn't let go of it when Alexis tries to take it out of his mouth.

"You're suppose to let go Charlie." Alexis applies a little more force.

(Oh no daughter of mine, you have to work harder for it if you expect me to chase this stupid thing.) "Growl." And Rick bites down harder and whips his head a little.

Alexis works harder at getting the ball back till Rick lets go. "Oooo, it's all slobbery now." Alexis makes a face. "You want the ball? … Go get the ball." And Alexis throws it and watches as slobber goes flying everywhere.

Rick takes after the ball and brushes his 75 pound body up against an end table, causing a lamp to crash to the floor. Around the sofa Rick goes to chase the bouncing ball and his tail whips around and brushes a few things off of a shelf that crash to the floor.

Rick has the ball back in his mouth and is suddenly happy with himself and comes around the sofa and his tail hits something on the bookshelf between the living room and his study causing another crash.

(UH OH!) "Whimper." Rick looks around at all the devastation. (This running around on four legs is going to take some getting used to.) "Whimper, whimper."

Alexis and Kate have watched the devastation and watch as Charlie lays down on the floor, releases the ball and lays his head down on the floor and looks up at them with those eyes.

"I think playing with the ball inside just ended." Kate looks around at all the broken pieces.

Alexis nods her head. "I'll get the broom and the trash can."

The mess was cleaned up and the trash was downstairs in the dumpster and Kate and Alexis found Charlie right were they left him. Lying on the floor with his tennis ball right next to them looking up at them with those eyes.

"I don't know what's keeping Martha, she should be back by now." Kate comments.

"Grams is probably buying half the restaurant." Alexis guesses.

**(FOOD!)** "Bark." As Rick gets up and sits there looking at them. Just as Martha returns with enough food to feed six people.

It had Rick sitting right next to Alexis looking up at her eating, hoping his daughter would take pity on him, since Kate likely wasn't going to. Kate was too practical to give a dog people food.

(Damn that smells good. I never knew it could smell that good before.) "Whimper."

Alexis sneaks him a shrimp from her box, watching Charlie wolf it down whole. This was followed shortly by another one.

"You keep that up and you're going to give him diarrhea and you're the one that is going to clean it up." Kate cautions.

"I hadn't thought of that. … Sorry Charlie." Alexis looks down at him.

(Oooo, I hadn't thought of that either.) "Whimper." And all three of them watch Charlie back off a few feet and lay down on the floor with his head on the floor, looking up at them with those eyes.

"Does he do that a lot?" Martha asks, since the dog backed off after the word diarrhea was used.

"Quite a lot actually." Kate turns to look at him.

"I've read where some dogs have a vocabulary numbering in the hundreds if not thousands. And if you speak German than they understand German." Alexis points out.

"Have you taught him any tricks yet?" Martha asks.

That got Rick to lift his head and look at Martha.

(I do not do tricks mother!) "Growl."

"I think you just said a bad word grams." Alexis offers, chuckling a little. "Maybe I should feed him now." Alexis offers and watches as Charlie gets up onto his feet and stares at her.

Alexis heads for the refrigerator that has the three tubes. "I didn't buy him a food or water bowl." It suddenly hit her that she didn't have anything to put his food into.

"Just use some cereal bowls, we can go get them tomorrow." Kate offers.

They all watch Charlie all but inhale his food, followed by practically drinking his water bowl dry.

(That stuff isn't half bad.) "Burp."

"I'm going to go up to my room and study." Alexis tells them and starts up the stairs.

"Just don't forget to take Charlie outside so he can do his business." Kate calls after her.

Rick looked at Kate and up to the retreating form of his daughter. (Why can't there be two of me?) "Whimper." And Rick trots up the stairs and slips into Alexis's room just before she manages to finish closing her door.

Alexis spent her time reading and writing her paper using her laptop while sitting on her bed with Charlie laying in her bed right next to her, while occasionally giving Charlie a light petting.

Finally Alexis discards her laptop and grabs her pillow and curls up around it and starts softly crying again. Her father was gone and it was still hurting.

(I'm sorry Pumpkin.) "Whimper." And Rick crawls across the bed till he is where the pillow is and feels Alexis hold onto him instead of her pillow, and listens to her pain, as it breaks Rick's heart.

Rick was up and trying to get Alexis's attention, stop crying and get up.

(I've really gotta go Pumpkin.) "Whine."

Rick put his front paws on her body and he stood on his back legs and pushed her with his nose.

"Not now Charlie." Alexis whispers and wipes away her tears.

Rick was back to standing on the floor as he walked in circles.

(I've really, really gotta go Pumpkin. Like right now!) "Whimper, whine."

"Ok, ok, I'm coming." Alexis gets up and opens her bedroom door and watches Charlie race down the stairs and starts twirling at the front door.

"We have to put your collar on you first." Alexis kneels down and works at getting it fastened into place. It's just that all that hair was making it difficult.

Alexis had it in place and grabbed the retractable leash with the poop bags and hooked him up.

(This is soooo embarrassing. I'm being lead around on a leash by my own daughter.) "Whimper."

"We're going Charlie, we're going." Alexis assumes that the whimper was because she was taking too long.

Alexis had her phone, keys, a little money and her ID and headed for the elevator, and stood there with Charlie walking around and around her.

(Hurry up, faster, faster.) "Whine."

The second they were outside Rick found the first pole he could find and lifted his leg. (AWE, that feels so much better. I swear my back teeth must have been floating.) "Huumm."

Then Rick took off walking headed for the closest patch of grass that he knew about.

(This collar isn't exactly the most comfortable thing I've ever worn. How do those women wear those tight cloth collars around their necks? Just one more corner!) "Woof, woof." A muffled bark.

Rick turned the corner and found two not overly trusting looking younger kids.

"Welll, lookie what we have here. Doesn't she just look delicious." As both of them look at Alexis.

(Over my dead body!) Rick shows all of his teeth. "Growl!"

Both Rick and Alexis see one of them pull our a knife and starts flipping it open. "I'll handle the dog, you take the girl." He tells his friend.

Alexis watches as Charlie instantly lunges for the arm that had the knife in it and heard the guy scream as Charlie put all 75 pounds and every muscle he had into ripping this guys arm off his body, and was soon rewarded with the taste of blood in his mouth.

(Blood tastes yucky, and your arm is coming off!) "Growl, growl." As Rick started shaking the arm for all he was worth.

Alexis dropped the leash and pulled out her cell phone and pressed the button for 911. Alexis watched as the other guy ran off and gave her description of him to the dispatcher along with her cross streets of where she was.

Alexis watched Charlie rip his right arm literally into pieces as blood was flying everywhere.

Charlie never did stop until the first police unit showed up and Alexis called Charlie off of him, finally, being totally stunned as she watched Charlie rip his arm to pieces.

The ambulance was taking the guy away along with an officer to make sure that if he survived that he was arrested and booked after they amputated what was left of his arm.

"**ALEXIS!" **Kate came running down the street after having been called by dispatch and wrapped her arms around her. Alexis felt her arms and could hear Kate's tears.

"I'm fine, Charlie saved me." Alexis tells Kate as she sits on the end of another ambulance after having been looked at by an EMT.

Kate looked over at Charlie who was just sitting there panting still covered in blood.

Kate was tempted to hug Charlie except for all the blood in his hair. "Thank you Charlie." Kate satisfied herself with scratching his ears. Kate didn't know what she would do if she lost Rick's only daughter just one day later. That would have been just too much to take.

(I love you Kate, both of you and something happens to either of you over my dead body) "BARK!"

Kate had cleared that they could go with Alexis going in to give her statement tomorrow about what happened and to have her give the description of the other guy all over again, after Charlie dragged both of them over to the closest patch of grass leaving behind something for them to pick up after him.

(I'm pooping outside in a public area with my wife and daughter watching. We are never, ever talking about this.) "Whimper."

"Charlie needs a bath Alexis." Kate volunteers Alexis to give him one.

Rick is soon standing in the master bedroom shower with Alexis wearing a bikini while being washed. Rick just stood there, ram rod straight and just taking it.

(My own daughter is giving me a bath, talk about role reversal!) "Whine."

"We're almost done Charlie, just as soon as the water runs clear." Alexis tells him thinking that the whine was about having to take a bath. Then Rick found Alexis hugging him and started to cry heavily. "Thank you Charlie." Alexis kissed his wet hair.

How close she came to having something really bad happening if not dying was finally getting to her.

Rick didn't know just what he could do, so he licked her face and tasted her tears.

Rick was in the middle of the bathroom being toweled dry and as soon as Alexis pulled far enough back he shook himself to help dry himself. "CHARLIE!" Alexis held up her towel to protect herself from the water that went flying. "Now you've made a mess." Alexis moans.

Rick hung his head low and looked up at Alexis (Sorry Pumpkin). "Whimper."

Rick soon felt the air of the hair dryer blowing over him. (Wow, does this feel different or what!) "Bark."

"OK Charlie, you are free to go. You are mostly dry." Alexis tells him, since he had an awful lot of hair.

Rick took off running out of the bathroom, through the master bedroom and into the living room and placed the front section of him in Kate's lap as she sat on the sofa next to Martha, each with a glass of wine in their hands.

"Hi Charlie, I suppose I should thank you for saving Alexis. I don't know how I would survive if I lost her too." Kate kissed his head. "Hhmmm, you smell clean now. … And fruity." Kate ruffles his hair.

"It's the shampoo. … I'm going to go to bed." Alexis informs them.

"Can you hand me one of his brushes?" Kate asks as Alexis passes by.

"Here you go." Alexis hands it over. "Good night darling, I'm glad that you are alright."

Kate put her wine down and started brushing Charlie. "Naturally we would end up with a dog that is all hair." Kate comments as she empties her brush yet again and adds it to the giant pile of hair that she already has.

"He does seem to have quite the personality and he does seem to like you two dear. How else do you explain what he did for Alexis whom they just met?" Martha comments.

Kate remained silent since she didn't have an answer. "I'm going to bed darling. I'll be here in the morning, try and get some sleep." Martha drinks her wine down.

"Thank you Martha." Kate was glad to have her, still not sure how she was still in one piece.

Kate was tired of brushing and her hand was starting to hurt. "I've had enough, that's enough for you." Kate tells Charlie and throws out her giant two handed bundle of hair. "Go to bed Charlie." And Kate goes into the master bedroom and gets ready for bed.

Rick decided to be a good dog and laid down in the doggie bed they had bought him. It wasn't his bed that Kate was sleeping in, alone, but it was softer than laying on the floor.

(One day down.) "Whimper."

Rick was awake and lifted his head up and listened. (Intruder?) "Growl." It got Rick to chase down where the noise was coming from. Nosing open the door to the master bedroom he finds out it was Kate.

(Nightmare? I'm so sorry Kate. But he was going to shoot me inside or outside) "Whimper."

Kate was moaning and crying in her sleep and it was breaking his heart. (Damn tall bed!) "Whine." Rick looked up and was determined to get his doggie butt up there.

A little bit of a run and a leap and he was in their bed. Rick got down on his stomach and crawled in real close to Kate until he was laying down next to her while she was on her side whimpering herself.

It was a few hours later when Rick was awake yet again and he found Kate's arm draped over him holding him in close. He also noticed that Kate had stopped moaning and crying.

(I'm so sorry Kate, so very sorry!) "Whimper!"

Kate woke in the morning and found herself puffing hair out of her mouth. Blinking her eyes open her sight was filled with hair. As her mind woke up she found she had a strangle hold on Charlie who was in her bed. (How the hell did Charlie get in my bed, and why am I holding him close?)

Kate pushed her face into his hair and kissed his head, wishing that it was Castle in her bed instead of a dog. Kate pulled back and saw Charlie twist his head around to look at her and for a moment Kate thought he looked so very sad.

Kate was showered and getting dressed as she watched Charlie watching her every move. "I suppose you're a pervert for a dog too?" Kate hooks her bra into place.

(That's General Pervert to you Kate.) "Bark."

Kate was all dressed and walking for the kitchen with Charlie right behind her.

"Morning Alexis, … you should feed Charlie and make sure he has water and go into the precinct. You need to give them your statement about last night." Kate tells her.

Rick inhaled his food and pushed his way past both of them out into the hall as soon as the door opened. "Oh no you don't, you're staying here Charlie." Kate informs him.

(I'm going with you Kate so just get used to it.) "Burp." And Rick trots down to the elevator and gets up on his hind feet to reach and scratch at the down button, and disappears into the elevator when the doors open.

"Close and lock the door before he leaves us behind." Kate tells Alexis, who didn't believe what she had seen so she delayed in closing and locking the door.

They made it to the doors just in time to watch them close on them. "Damn it, not again." Kate deflates.

"He's done this before?" Alexis holds her mouth open while looking at Kate.

"Don't rub it in, and don't ask." Kate presses the button to call the elevator back up to their floor. She was never going to live this down if it got out. They ultimately found Charlie sitting next to the drivers door of her cruiser.

(I'm going with you, so open the door Kate.) "Bark."

Rick was in the back seat standing with his head overhanging the front seat while watching where they were going. "We never talk about what just happened ever again. … Got it." Kate looks at Alexis.

(If I remember this after I'm human again, we are so talking about this again Kate.) "Bark, bark."

"I wasn't talking to you." Kate tells Charlie. It did however get Alexis to laugh a little.

Charlie was allowed inside and allowed into the elevator and Kate found him sitting in Castle's chair when she made it to her desk. "I see you still have your friend." Ryan comments.

"Where's Gates?" Kate asks noticing that her office was empty.

"She's down at 1PP trying to explain how the NYPD lost an unarmed consultant during a, …" Ryan shut up when he saw Alexis come up behind Beckett. "Gates is likely going to be gone all day." Ryan amends his statement, as he kicks himself. Not understanding how he could be so insensitive, when he was missing Castle already. And it was only just coming into focus with Beckett being here without him.

"How's Espo?" Kate changes the topic.

"Still in the hospital and likely will be for another week, before they send him home." Ryan tells her.

"I need to find time and go down and see him." Kate whispers out, chastising herself for not having done it already.

"Can you find someone to take Alexis's statement? Karpowski maybe?" Kate asks of him.

Alexis was in interrogation giving her statement. "Where are we?" Kate asks.

"You know Gates isn't going to let you work this case." Ryan informs her, even if he was sure she did know it.

"HE'S MY HUSBAND KEVIN!" Kate yells at him, getting the attention of everyone on the floor. "It's my last case Kev, I'll come in after Gates has gone home for the day if I have to, but I'm working it." Kate sits down in her chair and turns on her computer.

"Last case?" It was all Ryan really heard.

"Rick is gone Kevin. … There's no more reason to stay here. I already gave Gates my resignation. She's going to hold it for two weeks while I think about it. Just there isn't anything to think about." Kate explains to him.

(You're staying Kate, this is what you were meant to do, and we're solving this. We have to.) "Bark, bark." Getting Kate to look at him.

"Now where are we?" Kate asks again.

"Ballistics has all of the weapons and rounds fired. Tori is searching all of the video cameras anywhere near that store, and Lanie has. … Lanie has Castle downstairs and will be done just after lunch. CSU is still on the scene taking the place apart. Front to back, roof to floor and even outside in a one block radius." Ryan explains.

That got Kate to look up at him with a question on her face. "It's Castle, Beckett. They care too."

Kate went back to her computer looking up everything about that store. Who owned it, who were all of the employees? "What about the three that were in the store?" Kate asks.

"The one still alive, a certain one Darrius Willard. No known association with the guy we were after. He has a record." And Ryan hands it over to Kate for her to read.

"There was one thing though. When he was brought out to be taken away, he passed right by you and Castle and, … well he was smiling wide, like he was happy." Ryan tells her.

That got Rick to turn his head to look at Ryan.

"It was a setup. They wanted us there. But why?" Kate questions. "Has our Darrius Willard been interrogated?"

"He asked for a lawyer the second he got here." Ryan tells her.

"Of course he did. Find out everything there is to know about him and when his lawyer shows up I want to know everything about him to. Run his financials, phone record, every friend or enemy he has or ever will have." Kate asks of him.

"Wish we had Javi, we could use another detective." Ryan moans.

"Find one then, ask around. Tell them I'll owe them big time after this is over." Kate offers.

It was after lunch. "Kate, what are you doing here?" Lanie walked into the bullpen carrying her report.

"I'm working my last case Lanie and I don't want to hear it. Now what did you find?" Kate asks her.

"Kate I don't think, ..." Kate stopped her when she snatched her file out of her hands. Kate however did notice that Lanie had been crying. Likely a lot. "I'm sorry Lanie, I know how hard it likely was, but it's my husband and I'm going to find out who did it."

"I know girlfriend, it's just, … " Lanie shut up and let Kate read. "He was shot with a long .22 at close range. I even found gun shot residue in his wound. … I'm sorry Kate, but he bled out and literally chocked to death in his own blood. It was likely painful.

It was a thru and thru, right through the soft tissue missing his spinal column by only fractions." Lanie tells her as Kate reads.

"Castle either knew who it was and wasn't afraid, ..." Kate didn't want to think that.

"Or someone caught him by surprise." Lanie offers.

"A raging bull elephant could surprise Castle." Kate whispers.

(Now that was uncalled for Kate.) "Growl."

"Who's your friend?" Lanie notices Charlie for the first time and moves over to pet him.

"That's Charlie, Alexis named him. He, ..." Kate stops herself since say he followed her into work and then home was too embarrassing. "He's adopted us and refuses to leave." Kate tells Lanie instead, which was close to the truth.

"Charlie, … Hi Charlie. You stick close to Kate and Alexis, they need someone to care about." Lanie scratches his ears as she whispers to him.

"Didn't you keep Royal for a few days a few years ago? You should know how to handle a dog." Lanie offers.

Kate stopped reading and looked at Charlie. Royal was a good dog, so why was she being so hard on Charlie?

"Hi Lanie." Alexis calls out as she comes out of the interrogation room having completed her statement.

"Alexis what brings you in here?" Lanie hadn't seen or heard of Alexis being up here very often, except maybe for when she did an internship here.

It was now that Lanie was informed of what happened last night. "Well I'm glad you're alright honey. … You're a good dog Charlie." Lanie plays with his muzzle and gives him an air kiss.

(Cut that out Lanie and don't do that again. I'm a happily married man.) "BARK!"

"I'll take a cab to get home Kate." Alexis informs her.

"Take Charlie with you." Kate asks of her.

"Sure, … Come on Charlie let's go home. … Come on Charlie." Alexis pats her legs to get him to come. Alexis steps and since she doesn't have a leash because Charlie escaped the loft without one, Alexis pulls on his hair a little. "Come on Charlie."

Rick however digs his feet into his chair and refuses to move. "I don't think he's leaving Kate, I think he's yours for the day." Alexis was willing to let him stay.

"Fine see if you can find something to put some water into in the breakroom and leave it at my desk?" Kate asks of her.

Lanie and Alexis were gone and Kate was still working at her desk while stealing glances at Charlie, who just sat there.

"CSU is back." Karpowski steps up to Kate and hands it over.

Various peoples blood, bullets pulled out of walls, including a .22 LR that hit Castle, but no gun within a one block radius. They really needed that weapon. A round was a round and it didn't tell you much without the weapon that fired it.

Someone had killed her husband and she wanted him even worse than she did the man who killed her mother. Screw the rabbit hole, she would go down any hole she had to, to find this guy.

"Ryan I'm going out to the site, I want to look at it again." Kate tells him and pulls out her weapon that Gates hadn't taken from her for some reason, since she should have until she was cleared of the shooting.

Kate got up and saw Charlie jump down and run for the elevator and was sitting there waiting for her.

"Why am I not surprised. I suppose that even if I drove away without you, you would just end up running after me?" Kate talks to Charlie.

(I go where you go Kate.) "Bark."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Kate gave out a heavy sigh. "Alright come on. Just don't get car sick in my cruiser." Kate called for the elevator and even held the drivers door open. "Come on, get in." And watched as Charlie leaped into the car and sat in the passenger seat watching everywhere they went.

Kate even rolled down the passenger window for him and Rick stuck his head out and let the wind hit him in the face. (This is sooo cool Kate. You have got to try this!) "BARK, BARK, BARK."

Kate parked out front and went past the yellow tape and entered the building with Charlie right behind her. (I know this place.) "Whine."

Charlie followed Kate inside and the first thing they both came across was the large blood pool where Castle had been. Kate watched Charlie walk over to the blood pool and sniff it up. Kate could almost see her sitting on the floor with Castle's head in her lap and he died in her arms.

"Castle!" Kate slapped her hand over her mouth. Coming here was turning out to be a bad idea, she didn't want to remember this as the last place that they had been together, and yet it was.

(So this is what dried blood smells like. My blood to be precise. I died here.) "Whimper."

"Come on Charlie, we need to look around." Kate tells him and starts walking for the back room.

(There is something here besides blood.) Rick looked around and it was like one of those green lines for Fidelity Investments, except it was kind of cloudy and his nose was telling him where it went. (KATE THIS WAY!) "BARK, BARK, BARK."

Kate turned around and watched Charlie barking and go back to the glass front doors and push one open and hold it open and bark at her.

"What? We only just got here." Kate tells Charlie, feeling like a fool.

Rick lets go of the door and start to swing and hit Kate in the face and took off running down the street, only to stop and turn to look back. (Come on Kate, this way. Come on Kate, give me a break.) "Bark, bark." And Rick takes off running again only to stop and look back at Kate.

"What are you Lassie now?" Kate takes off running after Charlie only to watch him turn and start running away.

They had made a couple of turns and gone down one alley so far and Kate had caught up to Charlie who was standing at across walk on a red light. "You better not be trying to tell me Timmy is at the bottom of the well, because there is no way in hell that I'm going down there to get him." Kate tells Charlie while huffing a little from the windsprint she had just done.

(Way to show your geek Kate. Nice one.) "BARK."

The light turned green and Rick took off with Kate right behind him. Then Rick turned into a small alley and started smelling around while Kate stopped and tried to catch her breath while watching Charlie smelling the ground.

(He stopped her. Just why did he stop here? … He stopped right here on this spot.) Rick looked up and sat down and Barked.

"What did you loose whatever it was?" Kate looked down at Charlie.

(Right here Kate, you just need to look.) "Bark, bark."

Kate looked at what Charlie was looking at. Kate makes a sour face. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Kate moaned. "You don't actually expect me to get in that thing?" Kate looked down at Charlie.

(In you go Kate, since I have four legs now it's all you.) "BARK!"

"I'm going to need to take a shower after this." Kate moaned as she pulled out a pair of gloves and opened the hinged top till it stayed open and searched what was on top first, before she worked at climbing and start to dig deeper.

(Can I shower with you?) "Bark."

"Oh shut up." Kate tells Charlie and she starts to dig a little deeper as she goes dumpster diving.

"Well I'll be a, ..." Kate stands up holding a Smith &amp; Wesson J-Frame that was capable of firing a .22 LR. Kate held it up to her nose. "And it's been fired recently." Kate opens the cylinder. "With one round fired." Kate smiled for the first time in two days.

"Ok, you're forgiven, but I still need to take a shower." Kate moans as she bags the gun and gets out of the dumpster. "If this is the gun that killed Castle I'll even buy you a steak." Kate offers as she starts walking back for her car.

(I'll take a porterhouse, with green beans, baked beans and AuGratin potatoes with a beer.) "Bark, bark."

"Don't get cocky." Kate admonishes Charlie. "Now lets go." Kate starts walking.

Rick starts to follow but stops as he starts sniffing again. (He came this way and stopped her, but where did he go from here?) "Bark." And Rick goes back to sniffing.

"Charlie, we have the weapon now let's go." Kate motions for Charlie to follow, but simply watches him sniff his way back to the dumpster and then leave the dumpster in a different direction.

Kate followed him up the street until Charlie stopped at the curb and sat down. (The trail ends here Kate.) "Bark."

Kate looked up the street from where they came from and then over to the dumpster and then down at Charlie. "He ran to the dumpster, dumped his weapon and walked up the street to here." Kate stopped and looked it all over again. "He stopped here because he had a car waiting. Did he go out into the street?" Kate stepped out into the street.

"Did he come out here?" Kate looks at Charlie and got nothing. "Ok so he stopped here and got in a car on the passenger side. Which means he had a driver waiting for him."

Rick got up and walked to the corner and looked around and sat down looking a different direction. (Down here Kate.) "Bark."

That got Kate to walk down to stand next to Charlie. "What? You said he stopped back there." Kate looked down and saw Charlie looking up and barked. Which got Kate to look up. "Security camera."

Kate pulled out her cell phone and called Ryan. "Ryan I need all the security footage at this cross street." Kate tells him and gives him the cross street. "And I found what is likely the weapon that killed Castle. I'll be in, in 30." Kate tells Ryan.

"Come on Charlie, back to the precinct, and I may owe you a steak." Kate starts walking back for her car, this time with Charlie right next to her.

(You're damn right you do and I'll take it medium rare, and leave the bone in.) "BARK."

Which actually got a chuckle out of Kate.

Kate dropped the weapon on Ryan's desk. "Don't ask." Kate warns him as she sees Ryan start to open his mouth. "I'm going home before Gates gets back and gets mad. Remember, I was never here." Kate tells Ryan.

"I never saw you Beckett. Just make sure you stop off at the hospital to check on Espo to create an alibi." Ryan knew that Espo would have her back if Gates did question him about Beckett.

"Thanks Ryan." Kate hadn't thought of that.

Kate drove to the hospital and parked where she was not supposed to however she was police coming to check on another police officer, so she didn't care.

Rick was practically on Kate just as she started to open the door. "You have to stay here Charlie, this is a hospital." Kate tries to tell him.

(Espo is my friend too Kate and I'm going with you.) "Whimper, whine." And Rick gave her his puppy dog eyes.

"Ok, ok enough with the puppy dog eyes. I'm going to regret this, but if we get thrown out, it's all your fault." Kate caves in quickly.

"I'm looking for a detective Esposito. I'm detective Kate Beckett." Kate showed her badge and was given his room number.

"Dogs aren't allowed in the hospital detective." The lady at the desk calls out.

Rick knew he had to think fast and saw what looked like a family coming down the hallway for the doors. A hospital staff person was pushing a young woman in a wheelchair while on one side was likely her husband and on the other was a little girl who was holding onto the wheelchair, and looked to be crying softly.

This was his way in so she took off and ended up next to the little girl who instantly started petting him.

"What's his name?" The little girl asks Kate as Kate catches up to them.

"His name is Charlie." Kate tells her.

"Hi Charlie, my name is Jennifer. This is my mom and dad." Jennifer just keeps petting Charlie. Then Rick turns and places his front half in the lap of the lady in the wheelchair.

Kate was all set to chastise Charlie when the lady in the chair simply leaned forward and hugged Charlie and sniffled. "May I ask what happened?" Kate asks looking what is likely her husband.

"My wife slipped or was pushed and fell and then had her legs run over, crushing both of them. She may never walk again." The husband's eyes start to water while Jennifer hugs Charlie from behind.

"I'm so sorry. … Here take my card. I work in homicide, but I know a few people including a good lawyer." Kate fishes out her card and hands it to him.

Rick got down off the wife and stood next to Jennifer and let her pet him. "Thank you, and thank you Charlie." The wife pets Charlie.

"May I suggest you look into getting a home service dog. There are a number of good services that are set up to help people just like yourselves." Kate tells them. "Several of them work off of donations so you don't actually have to pay for the dog. If you need help finding one you can give me a call."

"Thank you, we'll look into it." The husband tells Kate.

"By Charlie." Jennifer hugs Charlie again.

"Thank you." The wife tells Kate as she is pushed past her.

"I'm sorry detective, I didn't know any therapy dogs where scheduled for today. You and Charlie have a nice stay." And the lady walks back to her desk.

Kate stands there staring at Charlie. Just who is this dog?

Espo turned out to be doing relatively well and was only too happy to tell Gates that Kate had been there with him for hours today if she asked. Kate also took a ribbing over having a dog with her, and even started laughing till it hurt about being adopted by a dog.

"Yeah laugh it up Espo since I'm leaving all the paperwork for you to fill out." Kate countered. Which wasn't far wrong if she did actually resign. Though Kate didn't bring that topic up with Espo.

Kate let Charlie into the loft after finally making it home. "Katherine, care to join me?" Martha lifts up her wine glass.

"Sure but let me take a shower first." Kate wanted to get the dumpster off of her.

Kate stepped into the bathroom and turned on the shower and started stripping off her clothes. "Charlie, … OUT!"

Rick sat down and looked up at her with his puppy dog eyes. (I'm staying Kate, I've seen you naked countless times and I want to again.) "Whine."

Kate stomps her foot down. **"OUT!"** And Kate points at the door and watches Charlie slink out with his tail tucked between his legs and hears the door close behind him.

Rick tries to open the door by getting up on his hind feet and push with his front, but the door remained stubbornly closed. It wasn't just closed it was latched closed, so he laid down on the floor and waited.

Kate soon emerged and found Charlie getting up off of the floor as she opened the door. Kate let out a heavy sigh. "You're a good dog Charlie." And Kate scratched his ears and went into the closet to put on her panties, yoga pants and t-shirt and went back into the kitchen where Martha had a glass of wine waiting.

"Thanks Martha, I could use this." Kate sat down at the breakfast bar.

"How are you doing darling? And I don't want to hear FINE. I want to know dear." Martha had adapted to Katherine.

"I'm not going to lie Martha, it hurts. I have no idea how to get past this. I spent so long trying to ignore my feelings for Castle, and now I don't want to, but he's not here to fix me this time." Kate wasn't crying for a change but her heart was barely working. It felt like teeny little pieces all trying to beat at the same time.

Then Kate felt Charlie rub up against her. "It does look like you've found a friend dear." Martha watched the dog rub up against Katherine.

Kate reached down to scratch the top of his head. "He found the gun that may have killed Castle today." Kate informs Martha.

"That's wonderful dear, maybe you can find out who did this and let Richard rest in peace." Martha was suddenly happy.

"We don't know that it is the gun or who used it yet, but it is something that we really needed." Kate cautions about getting her hopes up. "Where's Alexis?"

"Upstairs in her room, she's been up there almost all day." Martha was getting worried about her.

Then they both watched Charlie take off up the stairs and push her door open with his nose. It left Kate sitting downstairs with her mouth hanging open wide.

Kate was just pulling dinner out of the oven when Alexis who looked to be smiling along with Charlie who was right next to her.

Kate caught Alexis sneaking people food to Charlie again. "Alexis?" Kate chastises her.

"I can't help it." This time Alexis does it in front of everyone as they all watch Charlie swallow it down whole, likely not even tasting it.

"I don't know if Pepto works on dogs so you should stop before it's too late." Kate cautions.

Martha had gone to her old room while that left Kate and Alexis downstairs watching a movie. Alexis went up to her room as soon as it ended with Charlie right behind her.

Kate still didn't understand Charlie, but she cleaned up the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher and turned it on and went to bed.

Kate got up in the morning with the intention of sneaking out of the loft leaving Charlie in Alexis's bedroom. Her only problem was that when she looked at the front door, Charlie must have dragged his bed over to the front door and way lying in it with his open eyes watching everything Kate did.

"Out smarted by a dog again." Kate moaned softly. "I'm losing my touch. … ok fine you can come into work with me, but if Gates kicks us both out, we'll both be right back here."

Rick was up in an instant and dragged his bed out of the way of the door and sat in the front seat watching everything all the way into the precinct.

(Day three. We need to accomplish something today. I'm running out of time.) "Whine."

Nine hours later Kate stepped into the loft and threw her bag all the way from the door onto the sofa and strode for the refrigerator, while Charlie slinked over to his doggie bed and laid down.

Kate was drinking down half of her glass just as Alexis came downstairs. "How did it go?" Alexis was hopeful.

"It was the gun that killed Castle. Ballistics confirmed it. It had been reported stolen a week ago and the owner checked out, he had an alibi. He was standing in line for a matinee movie with his girlfriend and two of their friends. They even went to lunch together after the movie.

The gun had been wiped clean. Tori is still looking through all the video footage anywhere near any of the two areas. I spent most of my day down in robbery hiding from Gates who was in the office all day. Then I had to run for the restroom to hide when Ryan called down to warn me that she was on her way down.

I spent an hour in the restroom till she went back up to her office." Kate took another big drink of her wine.

"I guess that explains why Charlie is over there sulking." Alexis nods her head in Charlies direction.

"Yeah I don't think he had any fun today either. It's been a rough day for both of us." Kate mentions suddenly feeling bad for Charlie, just not sure why.

Kate didn't try to sneak out without Charlie the next morning, not that she really could have easily anyway since Charlie had dragged his bed into her bedroom and was found waiting at the bedroom door waiting for her.

Kate and Charlie were relegated to hiding out in Robbery again since Gates was in her office again.

Kate was using the computer to do some searches that Ryan had shared with her till her cell phone rang. "Restroom again?" Kate moaned.

(Not again, can't I just bite Gates and send her to emergency?) "Whimper."

Kate looked down at Charlie at that. "Beckett."

"This is Tori, you think you can sneak up her I have something I think you might want to see." Tori asks Kate.

"On my way. … Let's go Charlie." And Kate took the stairs since it afforded better opportunities for hiding.

There was only one open space they had to cross from a crouched position that would be visible from Gates's office, however Kate had already been spotted by someone else on the floor.

Kate watched that person walk directly for Gates's office. "We're about to be, ..." Kate stopped when she saw him motion with his finger just before he entered Gates's office. "Looks like I owe someone else." Kate was smiling as she spied on Gates.

"Go Charlie, go." And Kate watched Charlie scramble across the opening as fast as he could while Kate watched Gates, and Kate soon followed still crouched low.

Kate closed the door. "What have you got." Kate stepped up to Tori.

"I like your friend, what's his name?" Tori looked down at Charlie.

"Charlie, he adopted us." Kate still had no intention of embarrassing herself.

"Ok, there was no security coverage that showed the front door of the rental center, and their own internal cameras had all been disabled." Tori starts off.

"Naturally since it was likely a setup." Kate was still pissed.

"I found the three guys that were in that store here around the block and you can watch them turn the corner to walk that way. But watch this." Tori plays it again for Kate.

"Now watch this guy come from this corner and join them as they turn the corner." Tori points out.

"Can you get a picture of him?" Kate may just have a lead.

"Unfortunately no, however watch him walk back to the same street corner and then he loiters in the area till this time stamp here.

This is the time stamp for when you, Ryan and Espo entered the rental center." Kate watches him walk back across the street and down the street that held the rental center.

"Now watch just seconds later that the time stamp puts it as just seconds after Castle had been shot." Tori offers.

"He's our shooter." Kate whispers and feels Charlie rub up against her leg getting Kate to look down and scratch his ears. "Still no picture of his face?" Kate asks.

"Unfortunately no. However just minutes later I have this car passing through this intersection which is where you found the weapon that was used to shoot Castle." Tori shows it to Kate. "I still can't get a picture of his face, however I do get a clear picture of this." Tori changes the screen to show the cars license plate.

"Can you print that?" Kate asks of Tori and has a picture handed to her.

"I also gave it to Karpowski who has already run it." And Tori hands over the paper of the cars owner.

"Thanks Tori, I owe you." Kate was ready to leave.

"There's more." Tori gets Kate to stop. "Four blocks later he runs a red light and you can see the car has two occupants, however the photo only gets the cars license plate and the driver. The photo of the driver does not match the cars owner." Tori shows the difference between the two.

"Was the car stolen?" Kate questions.

"There are no reports of any stolen cars within the last month that match the description of this car. Karpowski is trying to figure out who this guy is." Tori tells her.

Kate looks at everything she has as Tori hands her more pictures. "Thanks Tori, I still owe you." Kate was ready to leave again.

"There's still more." Tori stops her.

"MORE!?" Just what was left?

"I found this car passing through the intersection where our shooter had been waiting. Time stamp places it just after CSU had finished and left the site. The car is owned by this guy." Tori brings his DMV picture up.

"That's our survivors lawyer, the one that Ryan said smiled wide as he walked past me and Castle." Kate comments.

"Can you rewind to where the killer was leaving." Kate asks of her.

"Sure." And Tori replays it for Kate.

"STOP. …. Rewind." Kate's voice is excited.

"There stop." Tori stops it.

"Right there." Kate puts her finger on the screen.

"He placed his entire hand on the light pole." Tori whispered out.

Kate pulled out her phone and called Ryan to have CSU take every print that they find on that light pole. It didn't prove that he killed Castle, but she was getting closer.

Tori takes Kate's arm. "I am sorry about Castle, Kate. He may not have had a badge, but he was still one of us and he will be missed by a lot of people in this precinct." Tori tells Kate.

"Thanks Tori, and thanks I still owe you." Kate tells her.

"You don't owe me anything, I'm doing it for Castle, I'm going to miss him." Tori tells Kate and feels Charlie rub up against her leg, getting Tori to look down and pet his head.

"Looks like you have a new friend." Tori comments still looking down at Charlie.

Tori gave the all clear after she opened the door and Kate made for the stairs to go back down to Robbery and her new desk.

Kate took a peek to find Gates not in her office so they made a dash for the stairs and down to Robbery where Kate was intercepted by someone on the floor who told her to go down to the basement since Gates was on their floor.

Kate had never been so happy that Rick had made friends everywhere in the precinct, even the guy on the front desk hadn't escaped Rick and his charms.

"Girlfriend, what brings you down here and I thought Gates all but kicked you out." Lanie was happy to see her up and walking, it told her that Kate wasn't cracking too hard after watching Castle did in her arms. Maybe even better than she was since she was the one that had Castle on her table. Something she had never wanted to see in this lifetime.

"She did and she's lurking the halls of Robbery where I've been hiding out trying to help Ryan solve my case." Kate tells her.

"Your case?" Lanie knew Gates would never let her work this case.

"He was my husband Lanie, so yes, MY CASE! … And I'm going to get the son of a bitch too." Kate hopped up to sit on the counter placing her pictures on the counter next to her.

"I see you brought your new friend with you." Lanie steps over to pet Charlie.

"Yeah, he's actually been helpful." Kate was forced to admit.

"OH!?" Lanie looked at Kate while still petting Charlie.

"He found the gun that killed Castle, which lead us to security camera coverage that just might get us a print to give me a name, to go with his accomplice who drove him away from the site." Kate explains.

"That what's in those pictures?" Lanie points and walks over to look at them.

"Yeah, Tori gave them to me after showing me all the footage she had found." Kate tells Lanie.

"You snuck your way onto the 4th floor with Gates up there. You've got guts Kate. … At least you weren't dragging around Mr. Two LEFT FEET. Gates would have spotted you for sure." Lanie teased.

(I'm not that big of a cluts and and my dancing skills are second to none I'll have you know. TRITOR!) "Growl."

Kate chuckled. "Better watch your language Lanie. Charlie seems to be sensitive when people talk about Castle for some reason." Kate had noticed that Charlie had an interesting personality.

"My apologies Charlie, I was only teasing." Lanie offers and pets Charlie, who just stands there.

Then Lanies phone rings. "Dr. Parrish. … Yeah got it." Lanie hangs up. "I've got a body so I need to leave you two alone." Lanie was forced to tell Kate.

Kate moaned. "Likely Ryan and Karpowski will meet you there forcing them to stop helping me for at least today. Can you pass these to Ryan when you see him and if he has questions he can talk to Tori, we might as well go home. I can't afford to get caught by Gates." Kate hands the photo's to Lanie and goes into the parking garage to take her cruiser home.

Their new case had forced Ryan and Karpowski to work it while Gates supervised them and tried to help since they were down two detectives. Kate had gone into the precinct just once and had spent a few hours at her new desk on the robbery floor.

Everyone in Robbery was keeping her secret as far as she knew and even had some of the officers on the 4th floor coming down that allowed her to keep in touch with Ryan and Karpowski.

Kate was at home sitting with Alexis, Martha and Charlie, watching a movie when there was a knock on the door. It had Charlie up in a flash and was over sniffing the door trying to figure out who was on the other side. Kate opened the door to find both Ryan and Karpowski.

"We need to talk." Ryan charges in past Kate and heads directly for the kitchen with Karpowski right behind him.

Kate closed and locked the door. "Both of us are presently out looking in on Espo." Ryan explains. "We found that car our primary suspect drove away in after dumping the gun that got Castle and talked to the owners wife since her husband was out of town.

She let one of their friends borrow the car. This guy." Ryan places a photo down on the counter that Kate had already seen. "His name is Clive Trailer. We asked around and found out that he's a driver." Ryan tells them since all of the were standing around him and Karpowski.

"A get away driver kind of driver." Kate gets it.

"He's suspected of being the driver for a number of robberies, the biggest one was that airfreight job about 15 months back where they got $1.33 million. That was when he really came into everyone's radar." Ryan explains.

"So what has a driver got to do with this?" Kate asks.

"A lot if we're right." Karpowski answers. "We have him flying out to Florence, Colorado. The home of

ADX Florence supermax in Freemont County of Colorado. Which is presently the home pending trial of one William H. Bracken." Karpowski tells them.

"But he's not a threat to us, he is monitored 24 hours a day, plus he has no money to purchase anyone let alone this Trailer guy." Kate argues.

"Correct, however we also got the CSU report on the hand print on the light pole you spotted. … And you wouldn't believe the number of people that have touched that pole.

Simple civilians that press the walk button while holding onto the pole, drunks that are using to hold themselves up, … and this guy, who had an entire palm print." Karpowski places his picture on the counter.

"Meet one Michael A. Levi. … Give you one guess who he is related too." Ryan offers.

"You are shitting me." Kate didn't like where this was going.

Ryan shook his head. "Michael A. Levi is the half brother of William H. Bracken. They both have the same father, just different mothers. We found 2 more people that have the same father but different mothers." Ryan is forced to tell them.

"Give you one guess where each of these bastard brothers all are except for Michael." Karpowski offers.

"Colorado." Kate hangs her head low.

"Unfortunately." Karpowski nods her head.

"It gets worse." Ryan offers.

"How can it get worse?" Alexis speaks up for the first time.

"Meet One Michael A. Ross, the lawyer of our surviving member of the three in the rental center. Give you one guess who he met with that Tori found just inside LaGruardia at the United ticket counter." Ryan offers.

"Michael." Kate squeezed her eyes closed.

"There's more, guess where Ross was going after buying a ticket on United" Karpowski asks.

"Colorado." Kate offers squeezing her eyes closed.

(GOD DAMN IT, why can't he just die?) "WHINE!"

That got Kate to open her eyes and reach down to pet Charlie. "They're planning a break out." Kate offers.

"Out of an FBI maximum security prison? Not likely Beckett." Ryan wasn't buying it.

"They have a driver and three half brothers who may have bought others. Find out what those half brother can do. Weapons, explosives, computers, something.

And they don't need to get him out if his lawyer manages to get him a transfer. A computer hacker gets into the prison system and alters the route the cars will take. They get their hands on some RPG's and they can blow up the armored car Bracken is riding in. Take out the engine and cut him out after. He may be wounded in the attack but likely nothing that can't be fixed.

They have a driver to take him to the closest small airport where they have a private jet waiting, and by the time they figure out he got out by plane he's no longer in US airspace or already landed somewhere for the next flight." Kate speculates and feels Charlie rub up against her leg, getting Kate to pet him.

(Nice bit of thinking Kate, I couldn't have dreamed up something any more wild and crazy than that. I'm glad I've rubbed off on you.) "Whimper, Whine."

"And why come after you, his life is essentially over?" Ryan didn't understand.

"Revenge, satisfaction. The two people that ruined his plans are killed and he is free, even if he isn't President, and it's his family that he has to thank for it." Karpowski explains.

"That means he has to come after you still Beckett, you're the only target left in this plan." Ryan points out.

"Ryan, you two need to try and get to that guy in the rental center, he's involved somehow. That entire place was a trap to kill at least one of us if not both of us." Kate asks of them.

(Those half brothers in Colorado Kate.) "Whimper, whine."

"Get a hold of the FBI too. Sorenson or Jordan if you have to. Their plan has to fail, and find Michael." Kate tells asks of them.

"Pray we don't get another body, with you and Espo out, we are stretched pretty thin." Ryan warns.

"Just do what you can Ryan, that's all I can ask." Kate, Martha, Alexis and Charlie watch Ryan and Karpowski leave.

"Karpowski is turning into a good homicide detective." Kate mostly tells herself, since Martha and Alexis have moved into the living room.

(I agree Kate, we need to find a way to thank her for this.) "BARK, BARK."

Unfortunately they did get a body, that night actually and were forced to spend the next few days working on it. Not only that but robbery was getting ready to bust a large multi-location chop shop operation so Gates was down there a lot. All of that forced Kate to stay home for a few days.

Kate would get an occasional phone call from Ryan or Karpowski about her case. The FBI phone call had been cordial with an underlying tone of 'We know what we are doing' kind of tone, to suggest that their call was quickly thrown into the trash as soon as it was over.

The phone call with Sorenson was even shorter with even more attitude. The phone call to Jordan however had produced better results. Jordan had asked for Kate's number so that she could talk with Kate directly.

The two of them had spent close to an hour talking and not all of it about the case. "I told you that Rick was interested in you, even if you didn't see it or weren't ready to." Jordan knew she had been right about these two.

"It was more the wasn't ready to with some didn't thrown in. I was an idiot and it caused my time with him to be short." Kate's vision was 20/20 after the fact, like it always was and likely always will be and not just for her.

"Still it taught you not to close off your heart and live your life, no one knows just how long you actually have Kate. … And I am sorry for your lose. … Castle was, … a unique individual. Likely the perfect person for you.

As for Bracken you leave that to me. I have a number of well placed friends and armed with your information, he gets out of prison to make his escape to another country over my dead body." Jordan tells Kate.

Kate hung up feeling much better about Bracken's plan, or her idea of Bracken's plan, provided he was the one that came up with it in the first place.

Kate was sitting on the sofa while Charlie had also made him self comfortable on the sofa with his head in Kate's lap while Kate mindlessly scratched him around his ears or just petted his head while Kate watched the local news.

Martha had stayed at her place the last two days and even Alexis had started going back to her more normal routine. Castle's funeral was scheduled for another two weeks. They had wanted open casket before he was to be cremated with most of his ashes to be scattered to the wind. What was left had a date with the moon or left in space, which ever came first.

Kate had chuckled at the will and disposition of the body. Leave it to Castle to want to be in space. His lawyer was working on a date for when that could happen since it appeared that Castle wasn't the only one.

Kate had been forced to turn on the TV just to get some noise into the loft, since without Martha and Alexis in it, it was one big empty space. That reminded her too much of her own heart.

Castle had helped her make it big and now it was emptying without his love to keep it filled. STILL!

It got Kate to look down at Charlie and notice that his eyes were closed and seemed to have this soft contended look on his face while she messed with his head that was in her lap.

Just how had he gotten into her heart so damn quickly? Having Charlie was one of the things that kept her going. That and finding out who killed her husband.

Her solitude and soul searching was interrupted by her cell phone ringing. Which got Charlie to lift his head off of her lap and sit up and Kate to reach for her phone that was on the coffee table.

"Beckett. …. WHERE!? …. Got it, I'll meet you there." Kate hangs up the phone.

"Come on Charlie Ryan and Karpowski are back on the case and think they have found Michael." Kate tells him as she gets up and collects her service weapon, that Gates had still not asked her for along with her other items.

(YES! I've only got three days left.) **"BARK!"**

Kate waited for Charlie this time instead of trying to stop him and Charlie didn't try to beat her out the door or into the elevator. "One of these days you are going to have to show me how you know to work an elevator." Kate looks down at Charlie while going down to the ground floor.

There were only 2 parking spaces in the underground garage at the loft and Castle's two cars were in both of them. The Ferrari and his Buick that had replaced the burnt to a crisp Mercedes.

Kate had been quietly happy that Rick hadn't gotten another Mercedes just like it to replace it. Being anywhere near that model of car brought up too many bad memories.

Kate's cruiser was parked out on the street as a result. Kate and Charlie had made it past the doorman when Kate caught sight of someone who looked to be reaching for a weapon, getting Kate to reach for hers.

(KATE! Watch out!) **"BARK!"** And Kate watched Charlie who wasn't on his leash because Kate and even Alexis had been lax at hooking him up. Besides, he never went anywhere or tried to get away from them, plus he had proven that he was overly friendly.

Charlie leaped in from of the man who had pulled a gun and Kate registered the sound of a weapon firing along with the sound of Charlie yelping in pain.

Charlie was on the ground and Kate put two rounds in the guys chest and started to watch him fall when the doorman called out. That got Kate to spin the other direction and put two rounds in another guys chest who also had a weapon out.

"CALL 911!" Kate yelled at the doorman and was on the ground lifting Charlies head into her lap as she watched the blood pooling on the sidewalk.

"Charlie no, please don't, … PLEASE?" Kate couldn't stop the tears or her lower lip from quivering as her heart broke all over again.

(I'm sorry Kate, the son of a bitch killed me twice. How ironic is that? I guess I lose even if I do still have 3 more days.) "WHIMPER, WHINE." Rick used his right front paw to brush against Kate's leg and closed his eyes.

"**CHARLIE PLEASE!"** Kate broke down sobbing on the sidewalk with her new best friend dying in her arms yet again.

Kate never noticed Ryan, Karpowski or even Gates who showed up shortly after and take her back upstairs. Or even when Martha and Alexis showed up. Kate by then was just an empty shell who didn't respond to any stimuli.

The man who shot Charlie was one Michael A. Levi while the other one was someone they were still working on identifying.

Kate was admitted to a psychological ward since she had shut down completely. Kate didn't respond to anyone or anything, she didn't eat or drink anything and was presently in a bed hooked up to get food and fluids into her.

It was one month later when Martha, Alexis and Lanie came for a visit. "Kate Beckett is in a catatonic state, completely unresponsive to everything, she doesn't even hear our voices." The doctor tells them.

"Will she ever recover?" Martha asks.

"Difficult to tell. We'll keep working with her, keep feeding her and keep her hydrated. It may take years to even get her to respond to us using eye movement. Perhaps in the future she can be in a wheelchair and have someone push her around, and maybe even talk back a little.

However her days as a homicide detective or any other productive job are over. Her trauma has been too great for her to accept so she has retreated into herself. The last safe place that she feels that she has left to her." The doctor informs them.

They each spend some time with Kate and say their goodbye and kiss her head and watch her react to none of this. "It isn't supposed to be like this girlfriend, you're supposed to be married and having little Castle babies, even Castle wouldn't want this for you. You need to come back and live." Lanie kisses her head and is the last one to leave, crying the entire way home.

**It is now 3 months later:**

Gates, Ryan, Espo and Karposski get a visit from one Jordan Shaw in Gates's office. "The information that Kate gave me about one William H. Bracken turned out to be correct. He was trying to make a breakout using his extended family and a few bought people.

However thanks to Kate it didn't go as planned. When his lawyer won his transfer a new plan was put in motion. The transfer was done using 6 armored cars that were split up into three groups, each took a different route once leaving the prison along with a number of cars and several FBI agents as support.

They were forced to pick one of the three and they selected the wrong one, though to be honest all three were the wrong one, since Bracken wasn't in any of them. He was left behind in the prison just in a different cell, away from his normal guards, two of which turned out to be accomplices." Jordan explains.

"Injuries, deaths?" Gates asks since they did actually hit one of the three.

"We lost the three drivers, one for each armored car since each one took an RPG to the engine compartment, and had 6 other FBI men injured in the line of duty. They will all make a recovery eventually." Jordan explains.

"And those 3 men?" Gates asks, since she knows the government can be cold most times.

"They were volunteers and their families have been well compensated for their loss. They will also be given a funeral befitting their sacrifice." Jordan tells them, even if she did have to do a fair amount of yelling to get it accomplished.

Gates and the others nodded their heads, thankful that their loss wasn't wasted and their families had some kind of closure.

"Several of his half brothers were killed in the counter attack. We also found the plane that was going to be used for his getaway. The plane however evaded our capture and it was shot down by the military before it could leave US airspace.

In addition the driver that was going to take Bracken to the plane rolled on everyone else to avoid the death sentence and may actually get parole some day, though I wouldn't hold my breath if I was him." Jordan was smiling since she was now getting to the good part.

"What did he tell you?" Ryan was dying to know as where Espo and Karpowski by the looks on their faces. Only Gates kept her stone face.

"He gave up that one Michael A. Levi had done all the dirty work here in New York and was the one who shot Castle in that building where he died. Combined with his testimony and all of the evidence your team has collected the DA is convinced that Levi killed Castle and Charlie." Jordan tells them.

"We got Castle's killer." Lanie slapped her hands over her mouth. Kate and Charlie had done it. They found Castle's killer. "I need to tell Kate. … Maybe she'll wake up for this." Lanie was ready to start crying again.

"I'd like to come with you this time if you don't mind. I feel like I owe her at least that much. Kate Beckett was a good detective and someone I'd like to call friend." Jordan asked.

"Beckett was the best New York has ever seen, why the AG's office can't see that is their loss and our gain." Espo offers up.

Gates opens a drawer and pulls out a bottle along with some plastic cups and pours a little for each of them. "To Detective Kate Beckett." Gates raises her glass. "To Kate." Each respond.

It was two days later when Lanie and Jordan enter Kate's room to find her still in bed, still hooked up to various machines and still staring at nothing.

"Hi Kate, it's been a while. We came down here to tell you that thanks to you and your dog Charlie, Bracken didn't escape prison and we know who killed Castle and if you hadn't shot him he would be arrested and jailed. You did it Kate, you closed Castle's case." Jordan talks to Kate while holding onto her arm.

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"Ok, we do this by the book. We clear the building and secure our suspect. Just remember Dawkins has three assault charges, one of which involves a weapon so he is to be considered armed and dangerous.

Castle, this time when I tell you to wait out here, you wait out here. … Got it!" Rick had always been lucky in the past, even that one time when he was wearing his vest and took the round to his chest. Just one lousy inch higher and he would be dead.

Kate had actually insisted on charges being filed against the idiot. Kate had been even more pissed when all he got was some hours of community services. He had almost gotten Rick killed and all he got was a few hours of picking up trash. Kate was all set to go ballistic till Rick came in and calmed her down.

"CASTLE! … Are you listening to me?" Kate stared at him.

"Yeah, yeah, don't go into the building with the wacko with a gun inside." Rick tells her.

"Right, let's go." Kate motions for Espo to open the door, quietly and Kate is the first one inside followed by Ryan and then Espo all with their weapons out.

Dawkins was just another low life enforcer, and while he likely didn't do the killing he was probably part of it and they already had two dead bodies that they could place him in the area of.

As best they could work out it was a group that was stealing cars and using them to transport drugs inside of. The owners didn't even know their cars, mini-vans or trucks had been stolen since they all had solid alibis that placed them out of town with friends or family at the time.

Taking Bracken down along with the death of Vulcan Simmons had left a vacuum that other people were only too happy to try and fill. Problem was they weren't nearly as smart as the other two, or maybe that was a good thing since they were being caught faster.

The additional problem was that with all these idiots fighting over all this new turf they were quicker to use weapons to make their point and warn others away.

In this case it was a rental store. Rent furniture, rent TV's, rent pictures to hang on your wall. Places like this were popular with people or companies that wanted to stage a house or some other place for a sale.

Most of the higher end condo's used companies that got their furniture from a warehouse like place that kept high end furniture and paintings. This place didn't have that high end, still they were used for people that only needed items for a couple of weeks.

The problem with this place is that there were countless items out on the sales floor for people to select. That also meant that there was countless places for someone to hide.

Kate went up the middle, while Ryan went left and Espo went right. It forced them to go slow and check behind each and every sofa, love seat, chair, bed and dresser.

Having cleared the front room that left the two doors leading somewhere else. One was a single door and the other was a double door, likely how they got this stuff in the front from the rear storage.

Espo covered the double doors while Ryan and Kate took the single door. Ryan carefully and slowly opened the door with Kate looking in first with her weapon out in front.

It was an office with a desk and a single chair and no other access. With no one hiding under the desk they both moved over to the double doors that Espo had been watching.

Kate took a quick peek to see where Castle was and was amazing surprised that he was still outside just past the glass double door entrance to the place.

It was also at this time that two shot gun blasts make large holes in the double door. Both are really close to Kate who is actually hit by debris from the door. Though it did no damage.

Kate took a quick look at Castle and didn't see him. At least the idiot had gotten down low from the shot gun blasts and was likely cowering behind a sofa or something.

Kate signaled and the three of them charged through the double doors and started yelling NYPD.

This was followed by a number of gun shots, none of which were shot gun blasts.

The back room was mostly industrial shelving that held larger items several of which were in boxes.

There turned out to be three men back here, one of which had made a run for it out a back door. However he missed the bar about mid height that would have opened the door, so he stopped and turned to fire a couple of rounds in their direction.

Ryan put two slugs in his chest and dropped him. While the other two continued to hide, when suddenly they both popped up and shot at Espo.

One round hit him in his vest, one round went in and out his left arm while a third went in and out his left leg. The other three shots all missed.

Kate's two shots in return fire went into one of them heads and dropped him instantly. This got the other guy to throw his weapon at Kate and raise his arms.

While Ryan was cuffing him, Kate started walking for Espo when she heard another shot followed by the sound of the front door, meaning someone had just come in or out of the front door.

"Castle!" That got Kate up and charging out the double doors looking for the front door. At the front door she found Castle stumbling into the building which got Kate to start running towards him.

"He was going to shoot me Kate. He walked right up while I wasn't looking and started to lift a gun at my head when this dog suddenly showed up." Rick points out the door where they both see a collie doing his best to rip a mans arm off and the man screaming in pain, with a small Smith &amp; Wesson J-frame on the sidewalk not far away.

Kate went outside and kicked the gun further away while Kate wondered what to do about the dog since it was still trying to rip his arm off and doing a pretty good job of it judging by the amount of blood that was everywhere, including on the dog.

"Charlie, come her Charlie." Rick calls the dog and to Kate's astonishment the dog lets go and goes to stand next to Rick.

Kate didn't bother cuffing him since he basically only had one arm left and called it in.

The lone survivor of the three left the scene not smiling, in fact he had quite the frown on his face, while their one arm survivor was being taken away while Kate and Rick took a look at his wallet to ID him.

"Says here he is one William A. Levi and he lives in DC." Kate reads off.

"So what is he doing in New York, besides pointing a gun at my head?" Rick asks.

"He would have succeeded Castle if that dog hadn't shown up." Kate comments, still surprised that Castle actually stayed outside like she told him to. This must be a first and likely the last time.

"Charlie here saved me." Rick kneeled down and started petting Charlie and scratching his ears and giving his head kisses. "Good boy!"

"Charlie?" Kate questions.

"Well I only know of two collies and Lassie sounds kind of girlie." Rick shivers just to prove his point.

"The other one was in that movie that had a US aircraft carrier go back in time to just before Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, where they had more than a big enough air wing on board to take out the entire air wing sent to attack Pearl Harbor and the Japanese fleet since they already knew where it was and had an E-2 Hawkeye with eyes on it already." Rick points out.

"The Final Countdown." Kate nods her head. "Which had a collie named Charlie in it." Kate was catching on. "Castle please tell me your not thinking, …." Kate shut up since if he wasn't already he was now.

"Charlie came back from the future to save my life." Rick tells Kate.

Kate groans, he was thinking that or at least he was now because of her big mouth.

"Can we keep him Kate? …. Please!" As Kate looks down and sees both of them looking up at her with those puppy dog eyes. How Castle pulled off the same look as the dog was un-nerving for her.

"Come on Kate, he saved my life." Rick knew he was going to sneak Charlie into the loft anyway even if Kate did say no, for now.

**'BARK, BARK!"**

Even the sound of Charlie's voice was un-nerving somehow and yet calming. "O-kay fine." Kate caves in just knowing that she is going to regret this. "But he goes to the vet first Castle, and your in charge of him. You have to buy his food, toys, bed(s) and take him outside. I'll not have him pooping and peeing in our home." Kate points her finger at the both of them.

"**YES!** It'll be great Kate, you'll see. Charlie is a good dog. …. Aren't you Charlie?" Rick pets Charlie and ruffles his hair.

**'BARK, BARK!"**

Three months and two weeks later William H. Bracken is charged with even more crimes and his surviving members of his extended family are in different prisons than the one Bracken is transferred to while all of them await trial.

Agent Jordan Shaw and her team were packing up after spending the last three months in one of the rooms of the 4th floor of the 12th Precinct. Jordan had stopped to thank Kate personally. "You two do good work Kate. … And I told you he cared about you." Jordan leans in and whispers to her.

Kate chuckles. "Thanks Jordan, I just wasn't in a good place to notice it before." Kate turns to look at Castle who was down on the floor petting Charlie.

"He loves you Kate, maybe more than you're still willing to admit, but he does. And I can see it in your eyes that you love him too." Jordan adds.

Kate is spared from responding when Gates steps out of her office and was glad to be getting her precinct back now that the FBI was pulling out. "I want to thank all of you for a job well done. … Beckett, Mr. Castle. … You two have the next three days off, use them wisely. … And get that dog out of my precinct! …. At least for the next three days." Gates all but whispers out.

"So Mrs. Castle, what are your plans for the next three days?" Rick asks while grinning.

"I'm sure we can think of something Mr. Beckett." Kate grins back.

"**BARK, BARK!" **Getting both of them to look down at Charlie and laugh since Kate knew Charlie was in her heart now too.

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All done! Took me two days. (No I'm not lying) Tell me what you think, the good and the bad. Just try to make it more good than bad. All writers have ego's that need to be stroked from time to time.

Happy reading!

Gary


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